[chknwing]

the problem is everyone has to wait in the same line regardless of which way they are going, just by adding a 2nd exit for turn right only for carowinds blvd and making the main exit turn left only, would alleviate a good portion of the traffic.

[Chris]

I doubt the state would ever allow that.^

The mall in Greensboro has a similar setup.

[RollerBee]

Oops, I forgot about that.

[arby]

The parking and entry/exit are better this year than ever before. With that being said, we went to Carowinds in the early 2000s for a 4th of July Fireworks show and have never been there since on the 4th. Back then it took us 3 hours to get out of the parking lot so I don't expect anything much different this year regardless of what they do. As others have said, there is no practical solution to so many people leaving at the exact same time.

On the topic of customer service, that is an area that I know a lot about. Some say it is all about the base (pay - pun intended), I disagree. While I agree that a company achieving over $1 billion in net revenue should be paying seasonal employees better, that is not what makes for good customer service. There are too many factors to list, so many that I could write a book (hey, wait.... ) but it kind of boils down to training, treating the employees as family, boosting morale, coaching, having quality supervisors, etc.

I agree that McDonalds and Chick-fil-a are essentially the same. They pay about the same and draw from the same pool of applicants. However, one penny pinches and focuses solely on the bottom line where the other one focuses on customer service, leading to what usually is two completely different dining experiences (while both serve equally unhealthy meals loaded with fat, saturated fat, and sodium)

Many moons ago I ran a Subway restaurant and took a restaurant that for five years had hardly ever made a profit into one that broke the all-time sales record by over 25% and then maintained the previous sales record and made a profit every single week until I left. It took less than 2 months to turn the restaurant around, and all of my employees were paid minimum wage. The secret? I kept a super clean store, trained and rewarded my employees for great customer service, always kept the food fresh, and treated both the employees and customers like family.

I'm not saying that Carowinds does or doesn't have any of the above, just speaking from my personal experience of 20+ years in customer service. I have absolutely no insight into how they run their crews. My opinion is that most companies are (or should see themselves) as a customer service company regardless of what good or service they provide and I carry that with me no matter where I work. It has served me well over the years.

[LocalYokel]

Carowinds was directing some traffic south on Pleasant Rd to the Gold Hill Rd entrance. They were using more than one entrance to I77.

Regarding changing I77 access to ease occasional Carowinds traffic, SC is very stingy when it comes to road improvements. There are tens of thousands of voters who are desperate for ramp improvements from exit 79 to 90. These changes are slow coming despite constant population growth and daily gridlock.

The entrance ramps used by cars leaving Carowinds are shared with NC residents from further down Carowinds Blvd. It is unlikely the SC legislature will prioritize easing congestion for NC residents over helping their own residents and property developers.

[Wormy]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Some five year old notes on the 4th.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3147

[aoriole19]

I have no idea about parking or traffic, I won't even try to contribute to that part.

I work as a camp counselor at a YMCA. For 2 days last week I worked at a camp at a different YMCA, which was much smaller. I thought that the counselors there were great people and were really good at working with the kids 1-on-1 and good at giving instructions etc. However there were many things I didn't like about how they ran their camp. They out kids in time out for too long, didn't know kids' names by the end of the week, had a game running for far too long, had too much down time, basically stuff that we were told in training not to do (the counselors at both camps did training together) I think the biggest issue was that (as far as I know) none of them had much experience, and the main thing was that they didn't have their boss watching over them / in the same building even (they spent most of their day in a church down the road from the YMCA) So they had nobody to tell them how to improve.

I think this can be paralleled to Carowinds. If they have all of their best ride ops at Fury, then that means all the less great ones or the ones with no experience are concentrated at the "less important" rides. I don't know how they do it, but they should really spread out their most experienced employees into each section if they don't do this already. Also, they should have the bosses/managers/important people checking on all the rides all day. It gives the workers motivation to do their best and impress their superiors, and it gives them a chance to get advice on how to improve. I know that on Fury they have had the bosses/superiors/whoever they are watching the ride ops, and they have done a great job with capacity on that ride, and the ride ops seem nice and social enough, if anything a tiny bit stressed about assigning rows/going quickly (which in my opinion is better than apathetic and slow)

I meant for this to be a really short post oops

[lingerdog]

While the state is slow, York county is a little more proactive about its roads through the pennies for progress program. Between that and request of hospitality tax funds Carowinds has made, work is in the planning stage for interstate on-ramp changes around Carowinds, as well as work to the Carowinds Blvd\ Pleasant Rd intersection. I could see the latter serving as a new exit from the park if they extend Pleasant Rd.

[uscbandfan]

One thing that would help and be inexpensive (comparitavely) would be to add a right-turn only exit further down the parking lot closer to the South Gate. People heading to Rock Hill or up to the Tyvola area could use that and take Hwy 49 very easily with an easy park exit.

No way they could make 77-north only out the main gate because of the "normal" traffic on Carowinds Blvd needing access to 77-south. South-bound traffic really shouldn't be a problem anyway since it's a right lane split. I think one thing that would help is traffic-light coordination. The traffic leaving Carowinds turning left onto Carowinds Blvd should NOT have to stop at the next light in front of the old Shoneys. Turn that light in front of the old Shoney's green to clear Carowinds Blvd then, after a moment (If the road sensors detect traffic leaving Carowinds), turn the left-turn out of Carowinds green and leave them both that way for a full minute or so. Traffic sensors today are sophisticated enough that they should be able to detect an increase in traffic there and adapt the signals to compensate. Don't stop there though. Add the signals at I-77 into the mix as well to help the north-bound traffic.

I think adding the 77-south exit directly out of Carowinds would interfere too much with the exiting traffic coming from Charlotte onto Carowinds Blvd. We have too many of those type of interesections that DO NOT WORK (See I-26 and I-20). Never is it good to merge accelerating traffic with decelerating traffic.

[Capler]

I doubt the state would ever allow that.^

The mall in Greensboro has a similar setup.

It took years and a lot of arm twisting and lobbying to get those ramps at the mall in Greensboro. Even then they had to wait until the planned interstate widening project occured before they could even consider it. Don't know much about Charlotte's long range road plans but I do know that I-77 south from uptown to SC is scheduled for a massive widening in about 20 years. Two more lanes are going to be added in each direction. This is going to be the most expensive road project in state history. It will cost more than the Independence Freeway upgrade and more than any state belt loop built or under construction. Every bridge and ramp will have to be rebuilt. At that point Carowinds may be able to get dedicated ramps on and off the property. But don't look for it for another 20-30 years.

[Jonathan]

Another similar situation was Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Until 2002 the entrance to the park was off Highway 60, which was probably better than the current Carowinds situation but still quite a mess. In 2002 VDOT completed the exit 243 interchange off of I-64 which connected directly into a new parking lot entrance and exit. The project cost $33 million (around $43 million in 2015 dollars). Allegedly the only reason that even happened was because of lobbying from Disney as they were planning their (now scrapped) Virginia park in the early 1990's.

[RollerBee]

Anyone know what factor make roads so expensive to build?

[Capler]

Another similar situation was Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Until 2002 the entrance to the park was off Highway 60, which was probably better than the current Carowinds situation but still quite a mess. In 2002 VDOT completed the exit 243 interchange off of I-64 which connected directly into a new parking lot entrance and exit. The project cost $33 million (around $43 million in 2015 dollars). Allegedly the only reason that even happened was because of lobbying from Disney as they were planning their (now scrapped) Virginia park in the early 1990's.

Yeah, the only way the Greensboro mall got those ramps was because of the planned developement on site. The developer planned a 20 story hotel tower (completed), a convention center expansion, (completed), and to add a wing to the mall that connected to the convention center, (not done, and will not happen becasue the mall was eventually sold). He refused to do any of those things without the exit ramps. As a matter of fact, the state did that part of the interstate widening first to accomidate those ramps. It is possible Carowinds could lobby for the same 'first on schedule' consideration.

[lingerdog]

Some information about road projects and timelines for development around Carowinds.

http://www.heraldonline.com/news/busine ... 50342.html

[Capler]

Anyone know what factor make roads so expensive to build?

Roads are not that expensive but interstates are. They all have to adhere to the same uniform standard. The first thing is that they pretty much have to follow straight unimpeded level paths, so basically what is in front of them have to be adjusted to make that possible. The ramps, shoulders, spacing of the ramps have to also follow specific specifications. Then there are all the enviromental issues.